I have 2 TB of data on an NTFS drive which I would like to convert to EXT4 filesystem. My OS runs on a (comparatively) small 60GB SSD. Is there any way to convert the filesystem, apart from backing up and reformatting?

4 Answers
4

It looks like a direct conversion from NTFS to ext4, but internally the procedures are:

Shrink the NTFS partition

Create an ext4 partition in the empty space

Move data from NTFS to ext4 until ext4 is full

If NTFS is empty (all data was moved), go to step 8

Shrink NTFS

Enlarge ext4

Repeat steps 3 to 6 until done

Delete NTFS partition

Move ext4 partition to NTFS' orignal place

Trim ext4 partition to NTFS' original size

So the more occupied your NTFS partition is, the longer it will take. If it is less than 50%, it will convert in one pass, in a single shrink-copy-enlarge iteration.

Although Parted Magic conveniently automates all of this, it is still essentially the same procedures described by arrange, so it is very risky and very time consuming. Backup-format-restore is much safer and much faster.

I have been misled by this answer. The man page doesn't state it can convert to ntfs, and the tool is not maintained since 2010. I could not compile the 6 latters versions of anyfs-tools for ubuntu 12.04 environement.
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Stephane RollandMay 9 '13 at 20:44

1

Actually question was about converting FROM ntfs, not to ntfs. And man page states that it could: anyconvertfs. Besides, I successfully converted partition with it on Gentoo.
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PASAfAug 24 '13 at 9:27

FYI, PartedMagic does NOT have a tool to automate the conversion from NTFS to EXT4. This is comfirmed by a PartedMagic admin themselves on their forum. The only way to do this is manually as mentioned.